Ever since its inception, the core of the Zionist project has been a settler colonial one, aiming to occupy the totality of Palestine and establish a “Jewish state” on it to turn it into “Eretz Israel” by supplanting its native population by means of occupation, terrorism, displacement, apartheid and genocide. For this reason, any past, present or future solution is contingent on the defeat of the Zionist project and the establishment of its fundamental antithesis: One democratic Palestinian state from the river to the sea. This is what was proposed both before and after the Nakba, up until the Palestinian Liberation Organization dropped focus with the 1974 “ten-point program” and the slogan of the “independent Palestinian state” on 22% of Palestinian land. These concessions culminated in the 1993 Oslo accords that recognized the “legitimacy” of the Zionist state, dropping 1948 Palestinians and diaspora Palestinians out of the Palestinian equation, in an essential deviation from the Palestinian vision for liberation and national constants (thawabet).

Our people must therefore drop all kinds of non-solutions, including two states, binationalism, confederation, and seeking “equal rights within the Jewish state”; and instead return to our historical vision for liberation: Dismantling the Zionist entity, liberation and return to one democratic and secular Palestinian state, i.e.:

• A Palestinian state, whose capital is Jerusalem, that honors the right of the Palestinian people to self-determine and express its sovereignty over the entirety of its land, honors the right of Palestinian refugees to return and extends Palestinian citizenship to all Jews who have broken free from Zionism and who wish to remain in it as Palestinians. This state will be the culmination of the liberation of Palestine, including the liberation of the Palestinian people from Zionist colonization and the liberation of Jews from Zionist ideology.
• A democratic state, a state for all its citizens with no discrimination on the basis of religion, ethnicity, culture, language, sex or gender, thus preserving the distinctiveness of the Palestinian heritage in its cultural, religious, and ethnic diversity; not a duplicate of capitalist colonial models, but a state, i.e. a functional administrative tool, whose society actively takes part in politics and through which its society expresses its political will and chooses how to administer its affairs.
• A secular state, that separates religion from politics, claims no religious legitimacy, safeguards the freedom of belief, the right to profess and practice religion, and all fundamental rights, and refuses to grant or deny rights on the basis of one’s religious, ideological or cultural background, in full rupture with Zionism and its sectarian nature.
• A socially just state, whose institutions are built on the principle of economic and social equality between segments of society and that builds a pluralistic, free and progressive society as an aspect of liberation. A state that frees popular classes from poverty, unemployment and marginalization and guarantees free quality education, social security and workers’ rights.
• A state of law, that criminalizes Zionism by law while ensuring the rights of all without exception. This includes first and foremost the imprescriptible, non-negotiable and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, particularly the right of refugees to return and to compensation for decades of displacement, which is fundamental to the solution. And because this is in conflict with the interests and privileges granted by the colonial regime to the Jewish population in Palestine by means of the ethnic cleansing and supplanting of the native population in and after 1948, it must be emphasized that achieving justice for Palestinians in matter of ownership, residence or other matters will not result in new injustices at the expense of the Jewish population that has dropped colonial privileges.

This proposal for a democratic Palestinian state is thus the fundamental antithesis to the Zionist project, and its implementation will require the dismantling of the Zionist entity and its colonial relations of power. Furthermore, by proposing a model for the establishment of states on a sectarian basis, Zionism also forms a danger to all societies in the region of which Palestine is an organic part and which face sectarianism and identitarian rifts; this vision thus safeguards not only Palestinians, but all societies beyond the borders of Palestine. Therefore, those supporting this declaration stand with the right of the Palestinian people to all forms of resistance, boycott, direct action, confronting the enemy narrative in Palestine, Arab countries and abroad, and political organization, until the accomplishment of this project.

We, the signatories, call on all our people in Palestine and the diaspora to return to our national constants thawabet, to openly declare your adoption of this project by signing this Palestinian declaration, and to translate this adoption into actions by involvement in political organizations that carry this radical vision for liberation and return to a democratic Palestine, from the river to the sea.

20682 Palestinians have signed this declaration. You may view their names here.

If you agree to the content of this declaration, we invite you to sign up as a supporter of our vision: